


Say it Again

by MarisFerasi



Category: Preacher (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Cuddles, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-07-17 16:31:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16099475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarisFerasi/pseuds/MarisFerasi
Summary: The first time someone other than his mam or Billy told Cassidy they loved him, he walked away. He's been falling for the wrong sort ever since. The curtains part a little wider, his faith slips a little more... But one thing's for certain: he'll definitely survive this.Character study (I guess) on Cassidy and by extension the other two during the show thus far. 2 parts, first is mostly violence and gore, second will be the same but possibly (probably) smut.





	1. Chapter 1

The first time someone outside of his family told Proinsias Cassidy they loved him, he packed his bag and left town within the hour. Didn't go back for twenty-three years. Sure, it had been a terrible reaction. He'd been young and stupid, definitely still scared of himself and his ability to _hurt_... but he still thinks about that sweet lassie from time to time.

When it's too quiet and he gets wistful.

Now that he's got loads of  _ennui_  and brokenheartedness to spare, he feels bad about that. Quite a lot, in fact.

Because since he figured his nature out and found the dependability of drugs-- found that momentary peace that an intense amount of tranquilizers can bring-- Cassidy's found himself to be largely unloveable. The rare bird has made her way in, once or twice, sure, in a hundred and nineteen years.

Maybe four or five, if he counts the two blokes... and that one girl who's still alive, despite him and all his influences. Though she probably hates him by now, too.

Humans don't tend to survive knowing Mr. Cassidy for long, see.

_He's been t'rough t'ousands of 'em. And he'll go t'rough t'ousands more._

They just try to keep up, try to live as addled on quaaludes and carefree enough to jump off the Empire State Building for laughs. And their mortal coils simply can't hold up. He gets a year of fun in, sometimes two. And he moves on out of boredom or danger, and they stay addicted or simply die, and he sometimes comes back for their funerals.

He's been to plenty, that's for damn certain. 

The last funeral he was at was an old girlfriend. She'd gotten hooked on opiates with him half a lifetime ago, now, but had eventually gotten clean. Died of cancer, because don't they all? If it's not an OD or accident, it's fucking cancer.

At her funeral, he'd been the only one under an umbrella, easy to spot, and their mutual (surprisingly still alive) friend had come straight over when it was said and done and she was in the ground and cussed a blue streak at him until he left. 

It had been  _all his fault, shoulda been him in that box, not her_. 

Wax on, wax off. 

Same old story every few years. 

Cassidy had sloped out of the graveyard and into a bar, and three grey, monotonous months later he fell out of a plane into Annville, Texas. 

* * *

 

"Are we goin' steady, now?" Cassidy shakes the bottle of pills and smirks down at the girl, eyeing the rainbows in her curls and licking his lips against the taste of her already in his mouth. He really needs about three of these wee bottles to quell this unchecked bloodlust, but it can wait. She's marginally aroused, he can smell it. 

"Even better. We're in love." Tulip comes forward and looks up at him, her neck stretched out all pretty. 

There are fifteen pills in the bottle. Cassidy offers Tulip two, a nominal dosage, and swallows the rest, tossing the orange container aside when she drags him down for a kiss. 

Tulip ends up taking those two pills and pulls her panties down before she gets in her car's back seat. It's about the most perfunctory fuck (he's ever been on the _fucking_ end of, anyway) he's ever had. She barely moves and doesn't make a sound the whole time, but he's far enough gone on this lassie that he gives his fair share and slips a hand under her before he comes, making sure she does too. She shudders around him with a hiss and then pulls away, kicking him to the curb and driving off before he finishes buttoning his jeans back up. 

He's gotta catch that little bird. Even if she stakes him out in the sun in the end. She'd be worth it.

He always wants what he can't have.

* * *

 

"Just remember: breathe. And I love you," Tulip says, staring up into his eyes like she means it.

He knows she doesn't...but it's all too easy to reply back, "I love you, too." And when she kisses him it's like falling outta that airplane all over again. Hurts almost as much, anyway. It lasts too long, and he knows she's putting it on for Jesse, to rile him up, but it's worth every delicious second while their skin is making contact. He wobbles a bit when she lets go and darts away with a sly grin. 

The bullet rips through his sternum and glances off a back rib and hits the back wall with a dull thunk, taking a spray of blood and viscera with it. Cass lands hard on his back and lays utterly still. If any of the rest of them come to check him, he'll have no pulse, can stop his breathing. But they're too scared. 

No one's _ever_ picked the biggest gun, before. They weren't even sure the vest would work. 

It's a good scam. 

Cass watches Jesse go through the motions, declaring him dead and calling on the men to call 911, and he tries not to laugh when Tulip goes for the over-dramatic, screaming NO at the top of her wee lungs. It's a near thing. He can still feel their kiss buzzing on his lips. 

The men bolt, including the bar tender, and Tulip is back under him again, feeding a line of tubing into his mouth before they rob this place blind and drink themselves stupid. 

All in all, a successful night, indeed. 

* * *

He makes her laugh for the first time since she's come back to life. A real, genuine one. It makes his heart sing, even though there's a hole in his chest that stings fiercely. He fingers the wound and lets it burn worse. It tells him that, despite himself (and a few choice others who want him dead) he's still kicking. 

"I love you, Cass," she says, simple as that, like she's saying she loves guns or beer. He may be comparable to her car, now. 

Not how she loves Jesse, of course not. But it's a start. 

And Cass can barely reply to her. He makes a sort of hissing sound like a deflating balloon and stretches his face into what he hopes is a smile back at her, before she springs up and goes to fetch him some blood. 

He wonders which of the times that woman's mouth shapes the word _love_ is gonna finally kill him. Cause she's burning him up worse than the sun; this is from the inside out. Christ, if he wasn't so desperate to see her smile, or even  shoot him one of her trademark eyerolls, he could barely stand to look at her, she's so bright and shining to a beast like him. 

Because he's completely unloveable... right?

That's what the last hundred years seems to be saying, anyway.  

Tulip never returns with that blood, and all's better for it because T.C. comes along soon enough and drags him up to his room for a bit of spot-surgery. 

He thoroughly enjoys the number-er and talks just a little too much to a fella who seems incompetent, but is actually surprisingly witty where it counts.

* * *

It's late into the night when Jesse hears Jody and T.C. whooping out in the yard, and his stomach sinks down into his boots. 

Cassidy's missing from his room. Last thing he said was that he was getting something to eat. 

Jesse'd pierced the blood bags and dumped them down the sink earlier; means the injured vampire went _out_ for some fine dining. 

And it doesn't matter how angry he is with either of them, losing Tulip had been the crack on the head Jesse'd needed to realize how much of an ass he'd been while they were at Denis' apartment. He'd let them both down so badly. They were prepared to walk away from him. 

He would have deserved it if Tulip hadn't come back. And he would have deserved Cassidy tearing him to shreds. 

Might not have even fought him off. 

But now, now, as he's racing through the house and out to the Whippin' Tree, Jesse can't focus on anything except how to get his friend out of this situation. Jody'd be just as likely to shoot them both and kill Cass anyway if he went for something obvious. Gran'ma would eat their souls and have them all three locked in the Tombs. 

There was very little chance of survival, here. All because Cassidy wouldn't listen to him.

 _How do you convince someone that you don't hate them, when you've said it right-out?_ How can Jesse repair this rift between them in seconds, when he's had days and it hasn't mended one bit? 

If anything, all his silence and errand-running for gran'ma has only made it worse. Driven the wedge in deeper. Tulip may have come around, but Cass has been burned his whole life by people who do the same thing Jesse's done now; let him in close and, if he stays long enough, kick him to the curb like an old dog they're tired of having around. 

Jesse swallows the thick spit at the back of his throat and watches as Cass dangles from the tree, wriggling against the too-tight bonds just like that poor bastard in the painting he grew up looking at. 

That's why he almost let Cass burn outside'a his church. That hesitation, however brief, had been ingrained since boyhood.

Magic, spirits, voodoo, souls? You betcha. Monsters? Kill it. _No exceptions_. 

And unfortunately, Jesse had been too soft when it mattered, and let _this_ hapless monster in. Made friends with him, saw he was just a fucked up man, no worse than himself, really. Gave him a bed and booze and kindness for a while. 

And now, this. 

"I told you it was gonna hurt," Jesse growls at his friend. He convinces Jody to take him to the Tombs instead of kill him. A sturdy, strong beastie for the show, why not? It may be horrible, the worst fuckin' place on Earth, but Cass _would_ live to see another day, at least. 

No windows in the Tombs. No sunshine. The vampire could live through anything else.

* * *

 

 Jesse's not really sure what he's expecting when the first fight happens. He's fought with Cassidy a couple times now, and it's generally a decent fight. He's strong, but not talented at all. Relies on brute force and being quick. 

Jesse fully expects him to get knocked around and then bite the pedophile teacher guy, but he doesn't even get close. He hammers the guy in the skull and then chases him down to check if he's _okay_. 

Cass always has been a reluctant-ass vampire. Too much of a people-person.

Charismatic as all fuck. 

If Jesse bothers to think about it, which--given his myriad of concerns lately-- he won't, Cassidy has never bitten anyone in a fight. At least, not in front of him. It seems like the only people he _will_ bite are ones that are literally about to kill him. Hunters and animals, a very short list.  

So why--or _how_ \-- does he qualify as a "monster" in anyone's eyes, when he does what any other man would do in a fight? And how does Jesse get him out of here, now that his friend is back _off_ his shit list? 

On the "self-reliant things he absurdly feels the need to protect" list, Tulip and Cassidy reign supreme and alone. Jesse grits his teeth and walks away from the old slave quarters. 

The preacher stomps back to his room as the dawn cracks like an ass over the horizon. Cass has made it through to another day, and Jesse has other fight to worry about until it's dark again. Until Jody and gran'ma turn his attention back to the Tombs and another round of desperate customers. 

He's gotta outsmart Starr, Gran'ma, her lackeys, _and_ manage to keep Tulip and Cassidy _both_ in line until he can get Genesis back to working order. An almost impossible feat. But everyone's lives depend on it, most of all-- the three of theirs. 

And the one in most danger is, unfortunately, the most durable one. 

He's _gotta_ get Cass off this plantation. 

It's definitely gonna have to hurt. In more ways than one. 

Jesse opens the door to his room and it's empty. Tulip's off doing god knows what. Can't make a plan with her, then. 

He'll wait til tonight, between shows. 

It's Cass' only chance, as he sees it. 

 

* * *

 

Cassidy literally _cannot_ believe this shit, right here. 

Jesse's hacked him into bits and told him to keep his mouth shut, and stuffed his pieces into a waxed canvas bag. 

He can't find his other hand, either. 

Fucking redneck left it behind. 

Jesse drags him off of the back of the truck and into a shop. He hears a discussion and then light pours in on him as Jesse pulls out his scattered pieces and stuffs him into a box. 

"You forgot my hand," Cassidy says, in between arguing over Jesse's methodology. He waves a stump at Jesse and gives him a very unimpressed look. 

"I needed it," Jesse sighs and stuffs his other leg in. He readies a blood bag and sticks the straw in Cass' mouth, closing and sealing the box with a prayer that Cass will heal slowly enough that he's long gone by the time Jesse can break out of Angelville. 

No such luck. Cassidy manages to work his wrist to his remaining hand and attach it, and then the rest of him follows. He births out of the box, tapes a paper-slicer blade to his empty wrist, and heads back toward Jesse. 

The scent is easy enough to follow. 

Later, when Tulip shuffles him out of the "arena" and pulls the broken stick out of his back, Cassidy decides enough is enough. He's gotten his love potion back. Jesse told Tulip to take him and leave, too....

Everything seems to be in place. For a moment he has hope. 

Until she stops at the bus stop on the outskirts of Angelville and kicks him out of their lives. 

 _For his own safety_ , she says, echoing Jesse's words. 

He considers agreeing and then staying in the swamp, keeping an eye on things (her) and avoiding Jody and T.C... until she drives the knife in deeper. 

"Well, I _don't love you_ , Cass." If he could look at her, he'd see her eyes shining with pain and fury, but he can't stomach it. He forces a laugh. 

He gets it. Can't even love himself, how can he expect anyone else to mean it? 

He knows she never meant it. Told himself that plenty. Why else would he have gotten the potion? Backup plan. 

If he sprayed Jesse, Tulip would come too. Then he'd have 'em both. 

But things are still sore with the preacher. Fuck, his body is still sore from all the shit Jesse's put him through in the last few days. 

Cassidy gets on the bus, ignorant of Tulip's tears, and for once manages to leave before he's actually hated by his so-called friends. 

 

* * *

 

Lisa's alright, isn't she? Kind, pretty. Something doesn't smell right when she talks about herself, her age and whatnot, but she's eager enough and drags him into the toilet with little preamble. 

Cassidy can't remember the last time he fucked something that wasn't his own fist or a prostitute, aside from that life-alteringly terrible fumble with Tulip. He shoved the thought aside and pushes Lisa onto a table, confused when she wants to get in her bag but still aroused and smiling. 

Then she puts the teeth in. And he's floored. 

Another human, lying to him with no shame. Another person giving him an inkling of false hope, just to rip it back. 

He might have had a chance with an actual other immortal here. Someone who fucking  _got it._

He comes hellishly close to forgetting himself; nearly goes with his instinct to rip her throat out as penance for gutting him like she has. But she's genuinely afraid for a moment, and he snaps back into place. 

Quite a bit later (and still a bit woozy) Lisa's standing over him in some brick basement, all done up in cliche Gothic style shit. 

Some wanker invites him to stay, another vampire with God knows what motives. Cassidy washes his clothes, thanks the bloke, and intends to leave when he gets drawn in. 

And yeah, this Eccarius guy may know how to push every damn one of his buttons and how to keep someone who's clearly desperate on the line...but Cassidy _is desperate_. 

_Hit the bleedin' nail on the head, 'bout needin' a friend an' all._

And then he gets a phone call from Tulip. 

He's too morose and upset to have a good, proper high right now, and she takes the edge off it anyway, going on about how much fun they seem to be having in the two days he's been gone. He misses the neediness in her voice when she makes sure he's still on the line, and the shocked silence when he tells her off. 

Afterwards, when he's walking back to Mrs. Rosen's house, he wishes he'd been firmer to her. _I don't hang on fer people who've made a point of lettin' me know I'm not wanted 'round anymore._

 _Why should I bloody well hang on fer yeh, yez two can't pull_ _yer heads outta Jesse's arse whether I'm there 'r not._

The posers welcome him back openly. Hell, they're fuckin' excited to see him again, but their joy (and the thrum in the basement from it) is nothing compared to the look that other handsome vampire levels on him. 

Oh yeah. This one gets it. 

He's looking for a friend, indeed. 

* * *

Cassidy breaks the hunters' necks one by one until the last drops at his feet. Hoover's white shadow flits out of the corner of his eye, and he almost gives chase, except Eccarius is missing. 

Concerned that they managed to kill his only friend, Cass runs to the pile of frilly clothing and paws through it, finding nothing.

Part of him says  _this isn't right, y'eejit, there's no ash._  But the larger part of him says _look what yeh did, now,_ and that's the one Cass has always listened to.

So when his friend turns up fine, transforms back and sits next to him and argues the semantics of blame, here, Cassidy stands and makes to leave. He won't endanger Eccarius and the children; he'd not survive that. 

And he knows exactly how ruthless the Grail can be, when provoked. Hoover may be a moron, but Starr is definitely not. 

"They'll be hunting _us_ ," Eccarius leans into his space and stares up, imploring Cassidy to agree, to stay with him and allow himself to be cared for, for bloody once. 

And if that doesn't light his candle with a goddamn blowtorch, nothing else will. 

Cass leans forward until their mouths crash together and he reaches out, tentatively tugging the other man closer until Eccarius smiles into the kiss and grips him back. Warm fingers trace up the tender, shaved bits of his scalp and soon, they're gripping more than feeling each other out. 

Eccarius flies them back home and they barely make it past Kevin and Mrs. Rosen before clothing starts hitting the floor. 

Cassidy drops to his knees, because that's what he's used to doing with men as of late (been on a bit of a girl kick, again, for the last half a decade or so, but it seems his tables. --and tastes-- are turning once more) but Eccarius barely allows him to tear open his trousers before the other vampire is dragging him up only to press him onto his back in the coffin. 

"Really gotta get a bed, man. This is ridiculous," Cass growls between kisses, negotiating his long legs around Eccarius' hips in the narrowness. They struggle and chuckle for a moment until Cassidy manages to sit the other man up and crawl into his lap in his briefs.

Finnicky lace front trousers are gone, a frilly shirt flutters to the floor, and Eccarius is cupping his face and looking up like Cassidy is the most precious thing on Earth to him. His fingers feel warm and very, very welcome on his scalp, feeling him out while they kiss, slower and deeper than before. 

Cassidy is eager for it, rocking his hips rhythmically and kissing deeper and more aggressively than the other man. He's begging with his body and fucking knows it; but Christ, he hasn't gotten laid in bloody _ages_ , which is like pulling teeth for someone like him. 

Eccarius smiles against his mouth and tempers his enthusiasm a bit, taking the time to reach down and slip his fingers inside, carefully stretching his new friend open until he's loose and gasping for it. 

When he slides down with a growl, Cassidy claims Eccarius' mouth a final time with a sweeping kiss and then sets to making them both come bloody _hard_. 

Afterward, when he's got his face buried in all those miles of hair and his teeth are on edge, muscles still quivering slightly, Eccarius rolls them carefully so that they're snuggled in the one wide coffin together, and Cassidy, despite himself, admits that this may have been _exactly_ what he needed. 

 

* * *

 

 It's rough getting used to all the attention, at first. But then Cassidy decides that it's simply because he'd been starved for it for the past several months. 

Hell, it's not all their fault. He's been desperate for the right kind of attention for bloody ages. 

Affection, perhaps. Not attention. 

Eccarius certainly pays him enough mind. The man flutters around him constantly, feeding, clothing and fucking him as often as he can manage. The other man is shockingly affectionate, and certainly has no qualms about cornering Cassidy (who's not altogether unwilling, to say the least, considering how long it's been since he felt wanted) with his more physical desires.

They've rapidly entered an almost domesticated phase, considering one of them still regularly feeds on humans. Cassidy is relearning how to let someone pick up his scattered pieces and in turn, provide companionship for someone who's surrounded by people and still manages to feel totally alone. 

And Cassidy actually has something resembling a wardrobe now, instead of just a hotel pillowcase with Tulip's leggings and jackets and Jesse's underwear balled up inside. Eccarius has given him loads of hand-me-downs, a long with an assortment of the late Mr Rosen's trousers, bracers, and shirts. 

All in all, he hasn't been so clean (in more ways than one) and well fed (also in more ways... all appetites are sated, and thoroughly) in _decades_. He's gained weight already, just in the week he's been away from Jesse and Tulip. 

He still fingers his phone in the sleeping hours, though, his thumb hovering over her name on the screen until he turns the damned thing off and rolls over. 

Forcing himself to sleep has always been a useful practice. 

He may not be exactly warm to others, but he and Eccarius run at the same general body temperature, and its cozy where he's been tucked in behind the other vampire's shoulders. Cassidy nuzzles at the back of his neck and tugs the blanket up closer to his chin and waits until sleep takes him. 

Two days later, he turns Hoover and finds Lisa's neck pillow soaked in her blood. 

All he can think is: _of course_. 

 

* * *

 

Eccarius was a brief but much-needed spree of wanton, lavish vampirism that Cassidy hasn't allowed himself in ages. Not since the last time he was drying out from his bad heroin days, in fact. 

The absolute hedonism in the seventies and eighties was fuckin' deadly. Sometimes he even missed it. 

But as he watched his lover be eaten by his own friends and then burned to a crisp, Cassidy carefully watched and packed his pipe. 

When Tulip called this time, he couldn't help choking on tears over what Eccarius had said. She said she was coming, the concern in her voice palpable when she kept asking if he was ok, or in danger. 

Not a loveless and lonely existence, after all. Maybe.

He was cared for, even if it wasn't exactly love. 

Or at least not the kind of love he really wanted, from her. 

It had to be enough. 

But when Hoover hands him the umbrella and tells him to open it, his Spidey Sense tingles that something's amiss. The children--  _his_ now-- are immolated without mercy.

He's darted with what they're calling "whale tranquilizer" and led into a holding cell inside a jet and taken overseas somewhere. 

He worries about Tulip on the journey. But he sure as shit doesn't have to keep quiet. Starr demand that he's sedated twice more (with less, but enough) during the flight just to shut him up. Suits him just fine; Cassidy is well acquainted with drugging up to avoid himself. 

When they dart him again to walk him out, it's still bright outside and Hoover ushers him, obedient as an old dog, into a cavern-like doorway while tucked carefully under another umbrella. He's led deep, deep down underground and chained there with a probably- angel- fella dangling high above. 

Cassidy sits and thinks, drinking the blood bags they toss at him daily. He tries to talk to the angel-thing, but he either can't hear him down here or doesn't want to talk, because he never responds. Eventually he resorts to doing press-ups and minor exercises out of boredom. 

The two headlines in his mind are: _wha' the fuck has Jesse gotten yeh into, now?_ And: _they aren't comin', mate. This 'ere is too much, too far, and it's a run-out-the-clock situation._

_Or run out yer luck._

 

* * *

 

Frankie Toscano is the kind of bloke Cassidy hopes he gets in a scrap with, because he wouldn't feel bad at all about biting this heap of dung and draining him dry. Not one iota. 

This dickless fuckwad has been blowing him through with various shotguns for at least a day now. Cass is mostly wet meat, dangling between patches of clothing and intact body parts. Half his head is gone, all of his front teeth and an eye, too. One whole arm is laying a few feet away, and the opposite shoulder has a meat-hanger shoved through it, from which he's dangling. 

One foot is gone, leg in tatters to mid-shin, and the last blast that jolted him awake from where he'd passed out went through his dick and upper thigh. 

"Wonder if that'll grow back?" He taunts, reloading while Cassidy howls and seethes. 

"Jaysis, I--I fuckin' hope so," Cassidy spits out a mouthful of his own blood and mucus and curls his fingers back around the chain he's dangling from. His vision's been swirling for hours, and there's no sign of Jesse or Tulip coming at all. 

Cass hears another shotgun cock and the door swings open. 

"Vampire," Starr greets him, looking down his nose at the gore that has become Cassidy's scattered pieces. He seems to be approving when Cass curls his lip back in a snarl and continues with a small smile. "You are no doubt aware that your position here-- being kept alive, that is-- is simply as bait, yes?" 

Cassidy rolls his eyes and spits again. "Jesse ain't comin' for me, eejit. He's fucked off at me. An' Tulip ain' comin wi'out the preacher. So." He half-shrugs and grimaces at the hook in his shoulder. "Waste o'time."

Starr hums and nods once. "Well then, let me have the pleasure of informing you that two Americans, one male and one female, have just entered the country without visas or passports. They simply...walked through customs. Sound familiar?" Cass glares back in silence, not sure if he wants to believe ol' egg-head here or not. "My operatives have since informed me that these two persons stole a car and are headed toward Masada. You see, vampire," Starr shrugs as though proud of himself and continues, stepping forward to peer up at Cass with those mismatched eyes. 

_Fuck, this bloke is gross._

Starr falters and Cassidy realizes he said that bit out loud. "We are fully prepared for Custer's...infiltration. We'll kill him before he sets a foot inside. He may have _come_ for you, but he'll never _get_ you." Starr sneers in Cass' face and gets a cheek slimed with bloody spit for his troubles. 

"I'll tell yeh, boyo. Yez can prep for Jesse all yeh like. Ain't nothin' stoppin' him if he's set his mind to it, though. And that fucker," he angles his chin up toward Frankie, "It ain' Jesse he's gonna haft'a worry 'bout." Cass snickers and spits another mouthful of snotty blood on Starr's boot. 

"Either way, vampire, your time is running short. Don't get too...comfortable," Starr quirks a grin and pushes Cassidy so that he's swinging on the hook, off-kilter. It hurts like a bitch, but he grits his molars and flexes his legs until the swinging slows. 

Starr is gone, the room's gone quiet except the fat fucker's breathing across the room. 

"You ready to go again, mick?" Cassidy hears the cocking of a shotgun and chuckles, smiling at the floor in all his bloody glory. 

"Frankie, my boy, I hope you're as much of a fat slob as you seem from down 'ere. Cos the fat ones taste better, see? Like fuckin' livestock. An' I'm gonna watch th' life drain outta yer eyes while your blood heals me up from all dis," Cass snickers again at the fury on Frankie's face and braces with a grunt when two shots ring out, blasting through his belly and thigh.

"Just yeh wait. They'll feed yeh to me soon enough." 

 


	2. Not Enough Coffins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens after Jesse gets Cassidy back from Masada is nothing short of heart-rending. Can the trio make up and carry on, or will three finally dwindle to two, and then one?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was craving a lot of angst when I wrote this story. Forgive me if I brought on some tears. Pathetic/broken Cass is my weakness.

"Cassidy!" Jesse shouts from the doorway, angry and confused as to what has gotten his friend in such a terrible mood. He looks over his shoulder at Tulip, who shrugs with a  _whatever_  hand wave and sets her bags down on the bed, disappearing into the bathroom. Jesse whips his head back outside, calling out again, half-tempted to use Genesis.

The still-limping vampire is stalking off into the dark parking lot, fuming at the prospect of yet another night in a single hotel room, of being locked up 24/7 with these two between the car, the incessant diners, and stopping for the night. Fuck, he needed to just  _breathe_  away from them on occasion, right? 

Jesse had "walked in" (Cassidy's 100% certain it was  _completely_  on purpose) on the Irishman and a young, beefy, black-haired bloke from two doors down (at their previous hotel) about a week ago, and since then the money for separate hotel rooms had mysteriously dried up. And apparently just telling the desk clerk that they needed two rooms with your bloody superpower isn't  _fair_.

Couple that with the increasingly palpable sexual tension between the three of them, and Cass' own pits of borderline suicidal self-loathing, and you get an over- boiling pot of testosterone and rage, barely tempered by the spitfire female in their little  _au trois_. 

He was  _absolutely_  not spending another night curled on the sofa or watching TV at the foot of the bed like a fucking dog. If they didn't want him in their bed, he'd find his way into someone else's for the night. 

Fuck them. And Jesse, in particular. 

So Cassidy followed his ears to a dim but noisy bar along the stretch of road in the smallish hick town they'd stopped at. He dropped a few bills on the counter and ordered a glass and bottle, and cast a glance over the place, before setting his sights back on the wood grain and the slowly disappearing liquor. 

No easy targets, tonight.

Jesse showed up before he was finished, to no one's surprise. He took the still-clean glass and poured himself a dram, letting Cass finish the rest while they watched in semi-companionable silence whatever bullshit was on the muted TV above the bar. The other patrons were noisy, but not intrusive. The sounds of pool balls clacking together interrupted the dull murmur of voices and twangy country music.

Jesse kicked himself for not having brought Tulip along. She'd be hustling those blue-collar men dry by now. He knocks back the last of his glass and straightens his blazer.

"Come home, Cass." Jesse held out a hand and closed it a few times, getting off his barstool. He waited another second and sighed. "C'mon. Dont even know what you're so mad about. But it c'ain't be all that important, since you won't _say it."_  

Cassidy grit his teeth and shook his head. He glared down at his hands before curling inky fingers into fists. "I'm not yer fuckin  _pet_ , Jesse. I am a bloody _man_. Mostly." He frowned and then shook his head again. "I 'ave needs, too, yeh know. An' listenin teh yous two fuck through the wall, then bein' trapped in a bloody car all day wi'yeh..." Cass' brow crumples and he loosens one fist to let his forehead fall into his palm. "It gets old, man. It'd get old fer anyone, fast. But now yer bent on makin' me miserable, it seems. If yeh won' let me 'ave some space ter blow off steam, 'specially when I've _already_ got to go'n find it elsewhere, I mean... whaddya expect?" 

Jesse nodded and waited in silence another moment, standing awkwardly, tapping his fingers on the back of the stool he'd vacated. He shifted his weight and tossed his head toward the exit. "I'll send Tulip, then."

He just about made it to the door before he heard a low grumble and the scrape of a bar stool.

"What, now?" He heard Cassidy growl, and turned around, expecting Cass to be rounding on him, but instead one of the other patrons was standing by his friend, puffed up and ready to fight. 

"I said, you and your faggy lil boyfriend there need to split. We don't like gays in our bar," the other guy, Joe Redneck here said back to Cass, eyeing Jesse too. 

Jesse came back to the fray, sensing the absolute _vibrations_ coming off his friend. He needed this scrap. 

Fuck it, he _wanted_ it.

Jesse knew that feeling all too well. 

"You boys aren't gonna like what happens if you dont calm down," Jesse chimed in. He shook his shoulders out, mirroring Cassidy's defensive stance. 

"Oh, really? We ain't scared of two fairies, even if you do look like you've seen a fight or two. This one looks half-dead already. What are you, a junkie, too? Wanna suck my--" Redneck's head snapped back so hard, Jesse heard the crack several feet away. The guy's hand fell away from where he'd been cupping his dick, teasing, and he fell to the ground in a sorry, motionless heap. 

Cassidy drew in a deep breath and flexed his jaw, furious. 

" _Any_ o'yous come outside, there ain' gonna be enough coffins in this town come sun-up." 

And Cass must have some deep-down vampiric qualities, because Jesse felt the threat so deep his bones shuddered and the hair on his arms stood straight. Every other person in the bar looked away then, and Cassidy stalked out.

Jesse stood for half a second, dumbfounded a bit, but ran out after his friend and soon was at his shoulder, crossing the lot to the Chevelle. Jesse ignored the stony silence when they got in and drove the few blocks back to the hotel, assured that Cassidy would see reason and calm down soon enough. 

He'd been acting out ever since they pulled him out of Masada. 

___

 **THREE WEEKS PREVIOUS** :

" _Jesse, I dont know what to tell you. Keep trying!" Tulip roared over the heart-stopping beat of helicopter wings as she flew the trio as far from the mushroom cloud that had been Grail's Masada HQ as possible. They felt a wave of wind hit the cab and sway them, mid-flight, but Tulip managed to keep the thing in the air and leveled them out in time._

_Jesse was trying not to panic and spat a own mouthful of his own blood from a decent right-hook that had split his lip deep. Cassidy was unconscious in his lap, teeth missing and beaten to complete shit. He was barely more than a torso and head, now._

_The preacher squeezed at the neat slice in his own forearm, hissing, and tried to press it to Cass' mouth, to encourage the man to feed, even just enough to wake him up._

_Hopefully, though, to heal him enough to grow his teeth back so he could hunt, at least._

_But Cassidy just lay there, fully limp and unresponsive. If he had been burnt, Jesse would have been convinced he was actually dead._

_After a few more grunts, growls, and curses, Tulip rolled her eyes and whipped her head around. "Fuck's sake, Jesse, squeeze your blood into his fucking mouth. He's out cold, he can't latch on!"_

_Jesse bit his tongue against a sharp reply and did it, watching fat drops of red splatter on his friend's lips and tongue until he finally reacted. Cassidy grimaced and licked his lips, groaning in pain, and then blinked an eye open. He peered up at Jesse and then rolled himself partially upright, looking around the small cabin and seeing only Tulip with them._

_"Fuckin'... Jaysis, Jesse. Look'it the shite yeh get me into," Cassidy clutched at his shattered ribs with his good arm, the other hanging loose at his side, all bone from regrowth. He let Jesse drag him back down so he was laying back on the Texan's knees and chest, sucking delicately at his arm when Jesse pressed it back to his mouth, until the wound had gone thin and dry._

_"Houl' on," he murmured, licking over the seam. It healed over into a pink weal by the time Jesse brought it up to look at._

_"Wow... How ya feelin'?" Jesse asked, running a hand absently through Cass' gore-matted curls when the vampire groaned weakly. He helped the other man sit up properly and they both promptly tipped over as Tulip banked right unexpectedly. "Christ, Tulip, what the hell?!"_

_"Sorry, I was watching you two. Pasture up ahead, gonna land n' get a meal for him, and we'll hitchhike to the next town, ok? Hang on ta something," she bit her lip and landed the copter a little roughly in a wide meadow brimmed with thick forest._

_Tulip held onto Cassidy's mangled body while Jesse wandered around and finally lured a cow back toward the chopper. He delicately punctured its throat and helped hold his friend up while Cass drained the poor beast in seconds._

_Immediately after gorging himself, Cass went deadweight and unconscious again, healing rapidly but clearly exhausted. The two lugged him to the road anyway and managed to hotwire what they assumed was the farmer's work truck parked on a gravel driveway there. Jesse held Cassidy tightly to him in the cab, covered by his jacket, and fell asleep on the window while Tulip drove and drove and drove until she felt safe enough to stop._

___

 **NOW** :

Jesse ushered Cassidy into the motel room and watched as the other man shed his coat and shoes and sloped to the bathroom. Tulip watched, too, curious but contemplative, where Jesse was just mildly irritated and impatient. He wanted their easy friendship back, that sense of comraderie and affable carelessness they'd once shared over a bottle, instead of all this fucking _drama_. 

But it seems like, of the two of them, Tulip was the only one who could see what was stopping that from happening. She was better at parsing out emotion and  _people_  than he ever had been. 

Cass was lonely, and tired of it. And he was quickly growing exhausted of the facade of dealing with the two of them all the time, of always being the third wheel, even when they  _did_  try to make him feel included. 

Kicking him out of Angelville had dug deep. Jesse was going to have to be the one to patch that up. He had some deeply ingrained trust issues, hell, maybe even the inability to love. But he had to try. He had to keep them both.

Tulip had dropped a bomb on him the night they got Cassidy back.

_The vampire was unconscious, sleeping off his horrific wounds in the double bed next to their own in the hotel. Tulip sat next to him, silent and frowning. She carded her fingers through his curls for a long while, absently listening to Jesse clean himself up and try to find something on French TV that they could remotely understand._

_Eventually she broke her silence. "I want us to be together," she said, stark and serious in the din of their room. Jesse paused and looked over his shoulder at her, eyebrows etched deep in confusion._

_"I don--"_

_"All three of us, Jesse. I want you. And I want him. And I think you do, too." Tulip kept on running her fingers over Cassidy's still form, tracing the dips and divots of fine, raised muscles that weren't there when he'd left them at Angelville. He'd gained some weight, somewhere. Probably not from the Grail, though. He'd been fed well and cared for, kept clean and reasonably happy, before they caught him and tortured him._

_Aside from the injuries, he looked good. Someone had taken care of him. But then Starr had sunk his claws in, gotten the only card he knew he had left to play, and Jesse had barely been able to get Cassidy out alive._

_But here he was, breathing just enough to snore into the pillows, half-draped over Tulip where she's tugged his arm and chest into her lap._

_"Bring me the ice bucket with some hot, soapy water in it and a couple hand towels, please?" She'd asked, and Jesse pitched forward after a couple seconds delay, mindlessly watching her pet their friend after what she just said. He brought her the items and sat on the other bed, watching with unseeing eyes as she ripped Cass' tattered clothes off and wiped the gore down._

_He'd mostly healed already, between Jesse's blood and the cow's. She could still feel the jagged edges of some broken ribs, some joints are too loose from mangled tendon and deeper cuts are still oozing thickened blood. But superficially, he was looking much better than earlier in the day._

_Jesse had watched her clean up their friend slowly and carefully, and took the bucket back when she was done, dumping the swill down the sink with plenty of soapy water to flush it down, get the dried grit out of the basin. He stared at the red swirl spinning down the drain and thought quietly for a moment, wondering if their friendship is too far gone to save, even how Tulip mentioned._

_Last he knew, Cassidy hated him. And despite his best efforts to save the asshole, that hadn't been reversed._  

And now, Jesse stands at the foot of the bed where Tulip sits, just a few scant weeks later, staring at the tightly shut bathroom door, behind which Cassidy is clearly hiding and probably moping. Tulip considers Jesse for a few quiet moments.

"Tonight's the night, eh?" Tulip says, plucking at the covers and cocking her head at him playfully. "Good. I'm getting sick of this waitin' around business. I'm gonna go talk to him, and then I'm gonna bring him out here and we're all gonna talk. And then we'll get to the fun part," she says with that devilish little curl of a smile he can't say no to. 

Jesse sighs and nods, loosening his collar and kicking off his boots. Tulip goes to the bathroom door and slips inside. Jesse can hear murmuring and then silence, followed by a few giggles. Jesse frowns and pads over to the door and presses his ear to the wafer-thin balsa wood. 

"Come on out and we'll talk it over. Either way, he's not against the idea. Definitely not  _anymore_." Tulip says. Jesse can almost hear her cross her arms and drop her hip. Cassidy breathes and it sounds like he shakes his head. 

"Luv, I cou'go jump on dat bed, fully prepped and 'ard wi'a plug an' all, an' have yeh write Fuck Me across me arse, he'd still act confused as teh why I's there. _No_. Jesse may no be against it when  _you_  say yeh wan'it, but I still t'ink we're far an' away from actually fuckin' it out." Theres a pause and Tulip says something low and soft that Jesse can't hear, and then....

He balks at what sounds like wet noises-  _kissing_ \- through the wood and clenches his fists. The curl of possessive fury starts to coil tighter in his belly, but he straightens and blinks, and suddenly... it's just  _gone_. 

Tulip's been right all along. This has been coming for _weeks_. Probably longer. Shit, maybe even since Annville. They're all so close, and she's been the glue holding this trio together for nearly a year now. Despite everything, all the emotional drama of the last month or so, Jesse cant imagine Cassidy just  _leaving_ , any more. He's become part of them.  

She's right. It's time for this to happen, and him straightening out this speed bump of his with his best friend is the last hurtle. They could all be so happy... they're  _so close_  already.

Jesse taps lightly on the door once and opens it, eyes flicking to the sink where Cass is sitting, fingers gripping the ledge so tightly his knuckles are white, smattered in ink. Tulip's standing between his knees, face tilted up and one hand disappearing into the vampire's messy curls while the other curves around a lean thigh. She's holding his head still, kissing him deeply, and Cass' eyes are closed but his eyebrows are more expressive than Jesse' s ever seen them. He's holding himself very carefully, but is still pliable in her hands. 

Like any man with any kind'a sense would be.

The preacher stands there for a second, sort of stunned by how  _unbothered_  he is by the scene. That's a bit of an understatement; he's throbbing dully in his pants already. Suddenly it's nothing to step up behind Tulip and press in close. 

Cassidy jumps slightly and flinches back, blinking at Jesse like he expects to be hit. But Jesse just smiles back and closes his hands behind Cassidy's knees so their pelvises bracket Tulip's. 

"Uh," Cassidy says, straightening away from them awkwardly. Tulip lets her hand slide from his hair down, tracing the shape of him lightly. 

_Definitely more muscle tone than the last time I was this close to him. What the hell?_

"Cmon Cass. Let's go back out into the room, I ain't havin this conversation in the bathroom for no damn reason." Tulip steps back and pushes Jesse with her, shoving him the rest of the way back into the bedroom. "Go sit up by the headboard, Jesse." She points at the corner of the bed and Jesse goes obediently enough, smiling softly as he goes. 

They'd both follow her to the end of the earth, and she, them. 

Cassidy steps onto the carpet, edging into the room slowly. They're both acting strangely, but, he figures, this weird energy between them might have finally come to a head. Tulip watches them settle around the room in a loose triangle, Cassidy perched on the lone chair and Jesse on the bed, leaving her standing with her back to the TV, between them. 

"Well. I have to pee. Go on'n get started, I'll be right back," she says, smiling and then locking herself in the toilet. 

Cassidy exhales slowly and rolls his eyes. Jesse stares at the door for a few seconds and flicks his eyes over to Cass, incredulous that she's tricked them into sorting their shit out first. 

"Well, go on. She's probably listenin', won' come out till we're done." Cassidy slumps back in his chair and fishes a smallish vape filled with CBD oil out of his pocket. Jesse swallows and watches the other man take a few puffs and then takes it when it's offered, gratefully accepting a hit. 

He exhales in a great huff and hands back the device, scratching at his head and beard, and then talks. He can feel Cass' eyes on him, low and weary. 

"Tulip told me, when we got you back, that she wants us to be  _together_. All three of us. And... it took me a while to think about it, I guess... but I dont see any of us bein' happy any other way, Cassidy. I know we have a lot to go over, a lot to parse out. Angelville, the Grail...  What happened to you between those events, as I understand it, was also pretty shitty." He watches Cass eyebrows contort when he scoffs, and smiles softly. 

"C'mere," he says, running a palm over the bed beside him. Cass frowns but gets up and slopes over all the same, sinking onto the bed beside Jesse, shoulders on the headboard. "I know you couldn't see it at the time, cos you were mad at me about Tulip dying, and you thought I was mad at you about... what you said. You sleeping with her back in Annville. But Cass..." Jesse sighs and digs a thumb and forefinger into his eyes. "We were broken up at the time. And she might always be my Tulip, but shes a fucking adult. She slept with people while we were separated, and...believe it or not, I did, too."

"Fuck, mate, she got _hitched_ , didn't she?" 

"That she did," Jesse chuckles. He takes the vape back and takes another drag. "But Cass, I was so much more concerned about keeping you away from Jody, it wouldn't have mattered if you'd been fucking at Dennis' house. I _still_ woulda wanted you off that farm, and I still woulda cut you up and put you in a box, or did what I did with the Tombs. Fuck... I told gran'ma I'd _hang_ before I opened them back up for her, but it was the only place I could keep you alive for a while, till a better opportunity came along. I know you didnt like it, thought I was trying to drag out the torment, whatever. But it was  _safe_ , even if it was painful. You were fed, kept outta the sun. Nothing down there coulda _killed_ you. And I'd do it again, if it was my only option." 

"Yeh didn' 'ave ta break me bloody heart, tho," Cassidy mumbles, fiddling with the drawstring on his joggers. Jesse chews on his lip and nods sullenly. 

"Actually, Cass...we did. You wouldn't _leave_ , and I tried other ways to keep you safe. You kept going around every wall I threw up. It didnt work till Tulip finally caught on, when I tried scaring her off, too. Told her to take you and run... That was her doing, breaking your heart like that, like you said. I dont think I could have." Cassidy snorts derisively and Jesse's mouth tightens.

"Not that I wasnt capable, Cass...I dont think you'd'a listened." They sit in silence for a moment and then: "I think I must'a done that back in New Orleans. You were already gone off'a me by the time it counted, in Angelville. I'd already staked you, good n' deep. Tulip just had to burn you enough you'd go on and lick your wounds elsewhere." 

Cassidy grimaces but nods, agreeing that Jesse had started making them both hate him as far back as Denis', at least. There's a laden pause and then Cassidy says: "I met a bloke, when yez kicked me out. He took me in. 'Nother vampire. Took good care o' me, sweet, attentive. Nice rebound. Fuckin...best goddamn sex I ever 'ad. Jaysis," Cass drifts for a couple seconds and Jesse almost laughs at the misty look in his friend's eyes before he blinks it away and starts again.

"He uh...he turnt out ta be a real wanker. I kill'd 'im. Right before Tulip called, said she was coming ter get me, in fact. He said I'd just go back to being loveless and lonely, and I thought,  _naw mate. I'll walk outside well before then_. Cos its...its gettin' bloody difficult, boyo. This shite. Fallin' madly in love wi'arseholes like  _you_ , like  _him_ , like a hundred other arseholes before yez. All I do is get hurt. All yez do is ignore that I'm... I'm bloody well  _durable_ , right? Its fuckin'  _hard_  ta kill summat like me, but yer built fer protectin', Jess." He stops until Jesse looks back at him and the grin stretched across his cheekbones, there. "An' I'm all about that, padre, feelin cared for an' shite, cos its bloody rare. But still... yeh gotta quit leavin' me outta yer messes. Cos I get caught up in 'em anyway, Jess. Look at the state've me, when yeh got me away from Starr last time, man. That was you kickin' me out, and it  _still_  happened. We're always gonna be stronger together, ya arsehole." 

Cassidy goes quiet for a while, picking at his drawstrings again, and looks at Jesse sideways under his lashes. Jesse's chewing on his lip, fingering the edge of a belt loop, listening for sounds that indicate Tulip's return. 

He knows what she wants, though. It mirrors his own wants, even if he's quieter about it.

"Kin I kiss you, Cass?" Jesse asks brazenly, swallowing against the anxiety in his throat when he turns his torso to look at the baffled vampire.  

"I... _yeah_ ," Cassidy breathes, deflating significantly when Jesse nods once and leans in. He cups his hands around Cass' neck and tilts them both just right, capturing the irishman's mouth in a sinfully sweet kiss. Their lips slide together as each man grapples for dominance, until Jesse says  _fuck it_  and grips Cass' shirt and pulls him over top of himself, with Jesse sinking down onto his back and letting Cassidy brace his own weight from above. 

Cass is taken off guard by the move, and he wavers on where to balance his weight for a second until one of Jesse's hands slides down his side, feeling out ribs and skin and settles on the rise of hip. Jesse slips a thigh between Cass' own where Cassidy's on his knees, and the vampire drops his hips down to lay fully on Jesse with a growl of approval. 

"Damn," Tulip says, jolting them both out of their rhythm.  She turns her phone off from where she'd snapped a few photos before gaining their attention so callously.

Good thing, too, because by the time she's set it on the dresser and turned back, Jesse's unclenched his hands from where he'd been cupping Cassidy's ass, grinding their cocks together through their pants. Cassidy clears his throat in alarm and backs up carefully, sitting on his heels on the bed. They both peer up at her, blinking like a pair of owls that got caught dry humping, instead of undersexed men trapped in close proximity, who were clearly attracted to one another. 

"Well dont stop for me, this is kinda the _point_. We're all dying for a good fuck, so come on!" She teases, dropping her shirt and pajama shorts on the floor and climbing onto the bed to join them.

The boys separate fully, each taking a side of the bed, leaving her in the middle. Cassidy is staring at her with blatant want, waiting on Jesse to either make a move toward her, or one of them to give him permission to do so. 

Tulip huffs and turns to Cassidy, pointing imperiously at the open space in front of her. He obeys wordlessly, coming over on his knees to kneel only inches away, waiting. He's so soft with her, so patient and conscious and careful, but in a way that doesn't seem controlled at all. Jesse watches with fascination as Tulip nudges forward on her knees and starts undressing the vampire for their eyes. 

He helps a little, untying his joggers for her and pitching upward to peel them down his impossibly long, tapered legs. But just as he's precariously balanced, shoving them off, Tulip pushes him to the side and he falls on his back with a bounce. 

"Stay," she says, taking his pants the rest of the way down. With a glance over her shoulder to Jesse, which makes his stomach clench with want, she throws a leg over Cass' waist and settles there, millimeters from sitting down _exactly_ where he wants her. 

"Christ, luv," Cassidy pants, fingers dancing lightly over her outer thighs. He's squirming a bit, glancing down at Jesse every few seconds as if assuring himself that the other man is still there, watching, rapt. 

"What do you want tonight, sugar?" Tulip asks, finally letting her clothed mons drop against the hard ridge of him in his briefs. Cassidy grits his teeth on a pathetic whine and holds her waist a bare increment tighter. Jesse shifts his weight and leans in closer, not wanting to miss a thing. 

"I... fuck, I don' care, luv. You, Jesse,  _both_... any o' it. I'm incredibly flexible, I just wanna nice fuck an' cuddle, alrigh'? Let yous two 'andle the details." Tulip considers him for another few seconds and peeks back over her shoulder at Jesse. 

"Jesse, bring me my floral cosmetic bag, babe. In the bathroom," she prompts. He already knows what she wants, and brings her back the small black vibrating wand. When he returns, she's shifting herself to sit against the headboard. Cass is still laying where she's left him, craning his neck back and up to see where she's headed with them. 

"Now Jesse," she grabs his attention back from where he'd been roving over Cassidy's shameless nudity, in particular, the bulge in his aubergine briefs. The men are keeping one eye on her, and the other trained on each other, curious and cautious at once. 

"Yeah?" He breathes, slumping slightly. 

"I want you to take your clothes off, real slow. Since you're the most dressed, now. Cassidy, come up here, sugar." Tulip pats the space between her thighs and Cass scrambles up, letting her tug him into a leaning-back position on her chest. 

Jesse swallows at the four eyes blinking up at him and starts unbuttoning his shirt, shedding it and then the tank top before pulling off his socks. He pauses at the button of his jeans, earning a flick of their eyes when he hesitates. Tulip notices it quicker than Cassidy does and begins running her hands along the curves and ridges of their friend as a nice distraction for the preacher.

Bit of visual stimulation certainly won't hurt.

Cass  _has_  gotten beefier since Angelville. Jesse didnt think so at first, but it's much more obvious now that he's almost entirely naked. Leaner, more defined arm and chest muscles for sure. Still those fuckin ridiculously long, tapered legs, though. Jesse stares at the other man's impossibly slim ankles and begins undressing again.

Just as he breathes deep and pushes his thumb against the metal button, Tulip murmurs something into Cass' ear that has him smirking like Satan himself. The vampire slips off the bed like a shadow and kneels in front of Jesse, hands edging up his thighs to help push at his fastenings. He pulls apart Jesse's front placket and nuzzles into the bulge behind, scraping at the border of skin and waistband with his teeth before he catches the edge of elastic and tugs. 

Jesse groans and gently palms the top of his friend's head, fingers carding through his tight curls as Cassidy pulls his jeans and underwear down and off at once. 

The vampire pitches forward to nuzzle at the hard cock that stands proud in his face, but seems to hesitate for a half beat, almost looks over his shoulder at Tulip, but she's already speaking before he can form a sentence. 

"Wait, Cassidy. You dont gotta convince him to let you in, anymore. He's sold. But right now he's _curious_." They both peer up at Jesse then, and he stares back down at Cass, almost as if to say,  _can you believe this shit? She can't just let us get on with it?_  

"Come back up here, sugar, let's let Jesse explore you a little." Tulip beckons to Cassidy, who smirks a little shyly and crawls back up to settle on his back between her thighs again. 

Jesse wavers at the side of the bed, torn in too many directions to pick just one. 

"Jesse," Tulip calls his attention, and he snaps his gaze from Cass' long, lean form to her eyes. "We got time. You start out wherever you want, Cassidy's gonna be real good for ya," she adds, tipping the vampire's chin so she can kiss him. 

"Honestly, Jess, it's alright mate. Come on," Cass breathes, lifting his hands as Jesse leans down and crawls between Cass' thighs. He runs his palms over the vampire, slow, feeling everything out like he hasn't ever done before. 

Well, he hasn't _exactly_ , anyway.

The sensation of something decidedly  _male_ under his fingers, without being in a fight, is... curious. Cassidy is soft in some places, like the tiny ridge of belly at the band of his underwear, or his plush ass which fills Jesse's palms perfectly. And everything else is smooth and baby-soft, but firm and well-toned when he squeezes his flesh gently. Jesse looks up to see Cassidy biting his lips, trying to be still and quiet, not scare the preacher away from his little exploration. 

Jesse smirks and fingers the edge of his waistband. "Want these off?" He asks. Cassidy nods fervently and lifts his hips when Jesse pulls, his long, slim cock flopping up onto his belly with a wet pulse. 

Jesse absently licks his lips, staring at the other man's cock. Cassidy froze, breathing shallowly as he and Tulip watched Jesse's curiosity and desire unfurl into a reckless thing. He came forward on his knees, reaching until he wrapped a hand around Cass' prick and tugged at it lightly. 

The slippage of foreskin was new, but not enough to make the preacher hesitate. He peered up at Cassidy from under his lashes, knocking the breath out of the other man. 

"What do you want, Cass? Hmmm?" Jesse asked, cocking his head slightly. His fingers tightened just a bit and Cassidy sucked in a breath, hips hitching. "Do I gotta _make_ you tell me?" He pressed, smiling wide at the gasp his friend let out. 

" _Christ_ , no, I'll...  anythin' Jess,  _anythin_ '.  Hands, mouths, yeh can fuck me if yeh like. I wan'it _all_ , luv, I'll take whatever yeh got." The words came out like vomit and, unable to stop them, Cassidy started rambling and moving again, offering things the over-protected Jesse had never even dreamed of. Pegging with Tulip in back and Jesse in front, blowjobs that could last a lifetime with his ability to not breathe and no gag reflex, maybe getting a little more high first to get everyone loose and comfortable, ease some minor anxieties. 

Jesse paused for a moment, considering his partners-- and damn, wasnt that a wonderful concept,  _partners_? He swiped his thumb up and over the wet head of Cass' cock, linking eyes with Tulip, and smirked. Cassidy felt the side of Tulip's face pull up just before she buried her face and one hand in his hair and pulled his head back. 

" _Jaysis_ ," he breathed, fingers digging into the sheets as her mouth attached to the side of his neck and her other hand trailed down over his chest. Jesse slid slowly down onto his belly and breathed hot over the cock in his face and then licked a firm stripe up the underside. 

He may have no experience, but curiosity and enthusiasm go a long way when it comes to oral, as Jesse was currently proving. He went along with what he knew he liked best, which seemed to work more than fine for his dear friend, who was uttering abortive gasps and grunts and trying his  _damnedest_  not to thrust straight down Jesse's throat. 

Tulip held him fast without much effort; simply having her hands on the vampire seemed to turn him into putty. Eventually he turned his head to meet her mouth and whined into it as Jesse finally closed his mouth around his cock, sucking lightly, and then more firmly. 

"If you come, Cass, you have to sit over there and watch us finish. But if you can be good and wait him out, let Jesse get a taste of his new toy, then we'll let you decide what happens next," Tulip crooned into the vampire's ear. He let out a desperate whine and writhed against Jesse's hold. 

"Fuck-- I--  _fuck_!" Cassidy cursed, pressing back into Tulip's hold when Jesse sucked at him again. He could easily blow his load at any second, but that trade-off was too much to risk. Cass musters all hundred-and-twenty of his years of experience and forces himself to wait.

Jesse smirks around his girth, keeping his eyes upward to watch as Tulip plucks at Cass' nipples and watches Jesse in return. The trail of hickeys she's sucked at the side of his neck is already fading. Jesse edges his tongue under the ridge of foreskin under Cassidy's cockhead and the vampire positively howls, fingers tearing the sheets a bit. 

Jesse pulls off with a laugh, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and then coming up to lay on his friend and kiss him, deeply. Cassidy buries his fingers in Jesse's hair and angles their heads for even deeper caresses of tongue, undulating against the preacher as much as he can without squashing Tulip under their weight. 

"What do you want, Cass? You get to choose, sugar, you were so good for Jesse." Tulip catches his forelock and tugs them apart briefly, but it only leaves room for Jesse to latch onto his neck. Cass goes spacey for a moment, trying to think of positions and his own desires, before settling on one he thinks will serve them all nicely. 

"Budge up a bit, padre," he says, already smiling. Cass sits up and turns on his knees, dragging Tulip under himself by her ankles, which makes her giggle. "Alrigh', Jess, sit up there an' spread t'ose pretty thighs fer us," Cassidy directs, shoving at Jesse with his fingers until hes sitting where the vampire wants him. 

"Now. Tulip." Cass looks down at her seriously. "Me plan here is teh fuck yeh an' suck Jesse off. Y'alrigh' wi'that, dearies?" 

"How the hell are you gonna manage both?" Tulip asks, incredulous. 

"Like dis," he replies with a toothy grin, scooping her up by her butt and nape to deposit the back of her head on Jesse's upper thigh. Jesse's cock bobs beside her temple, pulsing and eager. Cassidy helps her tug her knickers off and settles on top of her, pressing lightly when she yanks him down and their mouths connect.

And even though he's kissing her hungrily, his palm smooths up over Jesse's thigh and curls around his balls, rolling them gently before sliding further to grip his cock. He gives it a few tugs and lets the preacher rut into his fist while he and Tulip settle their pelvises together. She reaches down between their bellies, still claiming his mouth, eyes slid shut, and slips him inside herself. 

Cassidy groans and rolls his hips, his cock filling her in a way that's completely different from Jesse, but still feels absolutely right. She sighs and stretches her neck, letting him nuzzle for a quick second until Jesse paws at his head and pulls him to the side. 

"Sorry, padre, I 'aven't er... well _shite_ I 'aven't been wi'a lassie since t'last time we hooked up, luv. I's been a while, _fuck_ ," Cassidy pants, dropping to his elbows so he can get to work on the position he chose. He angles Jesse's cock toward his face and drops his jaw open wide to lap up the turgid length of it.

Jesse grips his hair hard, just before he can swallow the preacher down, and holds him fast. Cass pauses obediently, mouth open, panting against his hot, leaking flesh for a beat before Jesse grunts, "Suck me," and pulls his head down roughly. 

And shite, Jesse definitely _hasn't_ forgotten that Cass doesn't have to breathe, because he's instantly squirming and dictating, forcing the vampire on and off his length by his hair. But Cass doesn't mind; quite the opposite in fact. He goes _wild_ for it, opening his throat so Jesse can slide deeper, even as his own hips stutter into motion again, thrusting in and out of Tulip's tight, sweet pussy. He groans gutturally against the flesh in his throat and takes turns following their ministrations until everyone starts finding all the right hot spots to touch and tickle.

Soon, they get a good grind working between them and a sort of rhythm sets in. He slides into Tulip at the same rate that Jesse pulls his head up. The sound of their combined breathing, turning fast into panting and then gasping, is music to his ears. He aims to please, sucking harder when Jesse yanks at the short hairs at the back of his scalp, snapping his hips into Tulip with a grind when their hips meet so he's scouring her sensitive clit with his pubes.

The friction seems to be perfect, as she clenches around him rhythmically. Her nails slice down his spine as she screams around a mouthful of his shoulder meat, ending at his ass where she buries the tips in his cheeks, letting him rut deep and sharp into her until soon he stutters to a halt and comes for what seems like hours, Jesse's cockhead lodged deep in his throat, stifling the bone-deep groan that vibrates in his chest. 

Preacher's turn, next. 

But Jesse's being difficult. He's not a fan of this position, being on his back and sucked off. He'd rather be sitting or standing for this. Or fucking, in general. While the pleasure is intense and the suction is phenomenal (the vampire has some _serious,_  well-honed skill, here) Jesse's nowhere close to the edge. 

Seeming to sense this, or simply growing frustrated, himself, Cassidy pops off and pulls carefully out of Tulip, kissing her posessively with a massive, toothy grin before gripping Jesse's wrists and tumbling to his back.

He pulls the preacher over himself to sit on his chest, and drops his mouth open again. Tongue wagging, eyebrows dancing, Cassidy winks up at the preacher with a bark of a laugh and then loses his breath again as Jesse angles down and slides in deep with a growl of approval that reverbrates deep as Genesis in his chest. 

Cassidy hums his own avid approval around a thick mouthful of meat and digs his fingers into Jesse's ass cheeks, urging him to go harder and deeper. "Fuck," punches out of the Texan's throat as he thrusts hard, his balls slapping Cassidy's chin. The stubble there is wonderful, and Cass seems to notice when he starts to grind a little on the thrust after realizing this, because he curls his bottom lip in over his teeth with a smirk, letting the little hairs of his beard tickle the sensitive underside of Jesse's cock there, and that's what does it.

Jesse plunges straight from the edge of orgasm into a roaring explosion, growling loud enough to piss off any neighbors as Cassidy swallows and sucks at him dutifully, kneading his ass as Jesse slows to a halt and then pulls himself back to sit on Cass' belly. After a few seconds of come-down, he slumps to the side and lays out next to Cass on his side, facing his friend.

"Holy fuck," Jesse gasps, chest heaving with the effort to catch his breath again. Cassidy lays where he put himself earlier, sated and turning sleepy, fast. He hums in agreement and watches Jesse paw at his own sweaty hair, trying to level his breathing.

He wants to kiss him, badly.

Part of Cassidy's mind is already whirring on the likelihood of this being a one-off, of them growing tired of his antics long before he does of them, and of getting tossed out on his arse like a stray cat before he can blink. _But_ , he reasons, he doubts Jesse would have joined- in if that were the case. He certainly wouldn't've had that heart-to-heart with Cass beforehand. 

"Hey," Tulip calls, pulling the vamp up from the depths with a nudge of her wee toes on his calf. Cass blinks up at her as she takes Jesse's former place and straddles his belly. "Quit it. 'Cuz you're not going anywhere we aren't." 

Jesse props up on an elbow then, frowning down at him and then up at Tulip, and back down again. "You still dont get it, huh?" He shakes his dark head and leans down, that lush mouth barely an inch away and continues: "We _both_ want you, Cass. We _want_ you here, to stay." 

"I love you, Cassidy," Tulip intones, folding herself in half over him so she's breathing on the side of his neck, hands trailing down his sides. She shoves Jesse's face away playfully and claims Cass' mouth in a kiss that's begging him to see the truth in her words. They punch a hole through him, and _God_ how he wants to believe it when she says ' _love_ ' this time. 

When she lets him go, Jesse's back in a blink, clutching his jaw with one hand and grinning feral like he does before he's about to do something _unbelievably_ hot (and deadly). "I love you too, Cass. Yore my best friend, and now we have sex, and Tulip, too. What else could I possibly ask for?" 

But before Cassidy can respond--hes still not sure if it would have been a choked sob to match the tears streaming into his ears or a joking, deflective answer to that heartfelt rhetoric-- Jesse takes his own turn on Cassidy's tongue, sliding his own in deep to massage and then suck at Cass' with a desperate sort of sound in the back of his throat. 

"Ah, fuck," Cass growls, wiping at his face when Jesse pulls back. "I'm not usually this...leaky. Sorry, padre," he apologizes, scrubbing furiously at his nose with the corner of a blanket. They both roll their eyes at him and then Tulip moves first, straightening herself out along his side so she can curve in close, her wee head stuck up there on his shoulder. She pulls the blankets the rest of the way up with her, preparing to snuggle in with Cassidy and his general lack of body heat.

Cass swallows against the lump in his throat and presses his mouth to her forehead, breathing a little shakily when Jesse backs off and curls into his other side. That wispy, ridiculous hair tickles at the vampire's chin while Jesse shuffles around and burrows in close, draping a bone-weary thigh over Cassidy's own.  

Thus pinioned, Cassidy dragged in a deep breath, memorizing the scent of all three of them, mingling. He began to soften, relaxing under them in increments until Jesse felt the other man finally fall asleep. He reached over, careful not to wake their friend, and laid his hand over Tulip's on Cassidy's sternum. 

"Better, now?" Jesse whispered, meeting her gaze when she opened her eyes in the low - light. She gave him a soft smile and nodded gently, pressing a kiss to the soft, inky skin under her cheek, almost posessively.

"Perfect." 


End file.
